WAS THERE AN INCIDENT IN THE STRAITS OF HORMUZ OR WAS IT JUST SOMETHING COOKED UP FOR THE PYGMIES TO RATTLE THEIR SABERS OVER?

I don't know what happened in the Persian Gulf between U.S. warships and some Iranian motorboats. The Bush Regime claims the Iranians were threatening our ships and painted a frightening picture that could easily have led to war. It reminded me of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, cooked up by another presidential administration determined to drag the U.S. into a war of aggression. Predictably, all the pygmies (except the Nazi) started screaming about war with Iran.

Former governor Mike Huckabee replied that the Iranians should “be prepared that the next things you see will be the gates of Hell.” “One more step and they would have been introduced to those virgins that they’re looking forward to seeing,” said former senator Fred Thompson.

Today the Navy is backing away from the Bush Regime's anti-Iran propaganda and Gareth Porter has shown some great big holes in the Bush Regime interpretation of what really happened in the Straits of Hormuz.

Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea," new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S. commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats.

The new information that appears to contradict the original version of the incident includes the revelation that U.S. officials spliced the audio recording of an alleged Iranian threat onto to a videotape of the incident. That suggests that the threatening message may not have come in immediately after the initial warning to Iranian boats from a U.S. warship, as appears to do on the video.

Also unraveling the story is testimony from a former U.S. naval officer that non-official chatter is common on the channel used to communicate with the Iranian boats and testimony from the commander of the U.S. 5th fleet that the commanding officers of the U.S. warships involved in the incident never felt the need to warn the Iranians of a possible use of force against them.

Further undermining the U.S. version of the incident is a video released by Iran Thursday showing an Iranian naval officer on a small boat hailing one of three ships.

The Iranian commander is heard to say, "Coalition warship 73, this is Iranian navy patrol boat." He then requests the "side numbers" of the U.S. warships. A voice with a U.S. accent replies, "This is coalition warship 73. I am operating in international waters."

The reaction of desperate warmongers and fearmongers like McCain, the Huckster, Giuliani and Thompson demonstrates once again why none of the pygmies is fit for any kind of responsible public office. You may not like Hillary or Obama-- but these two are infinitely better equipped to lead America than any of the Republicans.


AT LEAST EMILY LITELLA WOULD HAVE SAID, 'NEVER MIND'

Once again I have to invoke that great homespun philosopher Emily Litella (in the person of the late, great Gilda Radner). At least, after discovering that the attacks she was condemning were on "violence" or "euthanasia" rather than "violins" or "youth in Asia" as she had mistakenly believed, or learning that nobody was advocating "canker research" or an "Eagle Rights Amendment" or "making Puerto Rico a steak" ("next thing you know they'll want a baked potato with sour cream"), she had the gumption and--after a fashion--grace to acknowledge that that's different, and she would utter her famous "Never mind." (Thanks, Wikipedia!)

No, with the Bush regime, it appears that all lies about border threats, military triumphs or challenges, bogus terrorist "threats," etc. remain operative until they're replaced with replacement lies, and there's never even acknowledgment that the old set of lies has been superseded by the new one. Just imagine: Emily Litella as a standard of intellectual honesty beyond even the imagining of these people.--Ken

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